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Nicholas Evans
Nicholas Evans (born June 23, 1989) is a retired Victory Hockey League winger/defenseman who played for the Toronto Legion, New York Americans and Riga Reign over a six season VHL career spanning from Season 14 to his retirement in Season 19. Evans was drafted by the Legion 10th overall in the Season 14 draft and came to the team as a key piece in their rebuild. Despite this, his coming to the team was over shadowed by the coming of first overall seledction forward Malcolm Kelly. Despite this, Evans had the better career between the two, winning a Gold Medal in the World Cup of Hockey as well as a Founder's Cup as VHLM champions. Before the VHL Before the VHL draft, there were questions in Evans' activity and attitude, concenrs which led to him being taken lower in the draft than what he would have normally. He fell to tenth and was selected below players who hardly had any impact at all at the VHL level such as Brandon Maxwell (9th overall to Davos). Evans was said to be a distrubance in the locker room, claims which were proven to be false throughout the course of his six season VHL career. VHL Career 'S14' In Season 14, Evans was, following his being drafted, sent back to the minors for one final year of training before being called up to the big league in Season 15. Evans led the Toronto's farm team, the Brampton Battalion, to a Founders Cup title in Season 14, and he was himself named MVP of the league for that year. He finished the year with an outstanding 70 goals and 96 assists, totalling 166 points. For a forward, these stats would have been stellar, however for a defenseman like Evans, they were almost unheard of. So, needless to say, he entered the VHL with high expectation placed on himself to perform. 'S15' If S14 brought about great change and sucsess for Evans, than S15 brought about great displeasure and failure. Going into the season, the now 20 year old was hoping for 20 goals and around 70 points. This would have been good stats for the young defenseman, but considering his stellar year the season before, seemed very likely. Though he did reach the 20 goal plateau, hitting 24 markers that year, he failed on the 70 points by nearly 20 points, getting only 53. Much like the individual, the team struggled. The Legion, who were picked by many to be a playoff team that year and especially so after acquiring Swiss star Alexandre Sauve from the Calgary Wranglers at the trade deadline, missed the post-season. S16 For Evans, the Legion and their fans, S16 offered a renewed hope. The failure of S15 was over and with a new team and a new position, things were set for Toronot and Evans. Evans had decided, along with the aid of Toronto General Manager David Knight, that his skills were better served at forward as opposed to defense. So, before the season began, the team sent an oficiall message to commisionner Sterling, telling him about the move to forward. Though for Nicholas sucsess did not come as a forward immediatly, the team did well. With the acquisition of star forward Zak Rawlyk, the Legion were a clear championship contender. Despite all the hype and an improved team, Toronto managed only four more points than they had the year previous, however, in S16, unlike S15, it was enough to get them to the playoffs. In those playoffs, they faced off with the favoured Seattle Bears, a team led by future Hall of Famer Grimm Jonsson, who was fresh off a 115 point campaign, Seattle and their stellar offense seemed unbeatable. However, Evans and the Legion were clearly a tough test, and pushed Seattle to a 7th game. In the pivotal seventh game, the Legion, down two to one in the first intermission, were relaxed, and were rewarded in the second scoring four times to take the lead. With the score 5 to 3, it was far from over. However, in the third, Toronto scored once more, making it obvious they were headed for the final. 'Versus Riga: Heartbreak' In the finals, Toronto faced the upstart Riga Reign, a young team looking to shock the world and win a championship. In the first game, Riga man handled the nervous Toronto team, beating them 4 to 1, out shooting them 34-30 in the process. In the second game, it was a tight one all along and with the score 4-3 for Toronto with less than 30 seconds left, Riga forward Zlatan Zanetti scored, tying the game and sending it to overtime. Most teams would have been done right then and there, however, Toronto was able to come back from it and scored 10 minutes into an overtime in which they were more or less dominated. Game 3 was another tight affair, this time with Riga winning it, 6-5 in another overtime. Despite the loss, Evans scored his 4th and 5th goals in the playoffs, making it a much closer game than it would have been otherwise. Needing a win on home ice to have any real chance, Toronto came out firing on all silinders and won game four 4-2 with Evans scoring the 4th goal for Toronto, and his 6th of the playoffs. Riga dominated the 5th game, winning 4-1, meaning they had a chance to win the cup in Toronto for game number 6! In the 6th game, with a loud crowd in Toronto, the Legion were down 1-0 when Toronto scored twice late in the first and carried that monentum into the second. Despite that, they were unable to score and headed into the third with a 2-1 lead. Riga got one early in the third, meaning it was now a last 20 minutes, do or die for the Legion. Legion veteran Erich Heidt scored, as did Brandon Azevedo into an empty net as the crowd went insane. Toronto had, above all odds, forced a 7th game. In the 7th game, Riga, one of the biggest underdog stories ever in the VHL, won, winning the Championship by a score fo 3-1. The loss was devestating. Toronto had poured everything it had into this year and had lost. Little did Evans know, but this would be the last time in his career he would ever reach the finals.